


you gave me something to lose

by gingergenower



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alliance Rune (Shadowhunters TV), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, King Alec 2k19, M/M, Magnus Bane's Heritage, Romance, cuddling in hell basically, if the heavenly fire didn't destroy edom, the softest husbands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-03-07 11:50:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18872632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingergenower/pseuds/gingergenower
Summary: If the heavenly fire didn't destroy Edom-"What could I say, to convince you to go?""Nothing."





	you gave me something to lose

**Author's Note:**

> title taken from the most malec song ever, [love someone](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN44xpHjNxE)by lukas graham

“What can I say, to convince you to go?”

The others have already portalled back to New York, reluctant to leave Magnus and Alec in Edom but left with very little choice. Before they left, Alec took Jace and Izzy aside, and Magnus spoke to Clary about the rune she drew on him. She called it the ‘alliance’ rune and explained Alec needed to maintain the connection to survive in Edom.

But then she forced herself to smile, and promised they would find a way to bring them both back in no time at all. Up on her tiptoes, she threw her arms around him.

“Nothing,” Alec says, words quiet and eyes certain as they meet Magnus’ again. “There’s nothing you could say.”

“But you’d be _safe_ -”

“I’m not leaving you,” Alec says again. His fingertips slide up the back of Magnus’ hand, ring to rune, and Magnus flinches.

Covering the rune with his other hand, he holds it and steps away. It’s oversensitive but not painful, and it’s a reminder of how reckless Alec is for those he loves- for Magnus- and everything he’s risking merely by being there, refusing to leave a dimension of hell. Magnus didn’t even have time to argue against it before Jace nodded, jaw tight, and asked Clary about the how, rather than the should.

Smiling a little sadly, Alec strokes Magnus’ cheek. “Just let me be here with you.”

It takes a moment to place the words, why they’re sharp with familiarity; when he does, Magnus shudders, the fear and the loneliness and the resignation brittle in his chest, enough to break.

The night Alec wanted to propose and Magnus cried on him for hours, he asked to stay.

Gentle, Alec steers Magnus back to sit on Lilith’s dusty chaise lounge and Magnus tugs him down with him. Straddling him clumsily, Alec lets Magnus leads him, settling his weight on Magnus’ thighs, foreheads resting together.

“I didn’t mean-” hands on Alec’s chest, fingers curling at the neckline of his t-shirt, Magnus squeezes his eyes shut “-I’m _sorry_.”

In answer, Alec only rubs his hands up and down Magnus’ forearms to comfort.

Eyes closed, Magnus tries to slow and steady himself by measuring his breathing against Alec’s. His thumb worries over his ring compulsively, and he only stops when Alec’s long fingers curl around that wrist, palm flattening over his rune.

He can feel Alec’s forgiveness, serenity and warmth and surety, as sure as he can feel his hands.

“I couldn’t feel this with Isabelle,” Magnus murmurs, and Alec answers absently, voice low.

“Neither of you have ever had the chance to practice controlling this kind of bond before,” he says. “Opening it up like this, you need to know how.”

“And you do?”

“It’s like it’s… it’s behaving like a parabatai rune,” Alec says, hesitant. “That’s how it feels, anyway.”

Forehead dropping to Alec’s shoulder, Magnus reaches out himself. It’s so far from anything he’s felt before, it’s like discovering an entirely new sense and he wants to understand it.

“Thank you for coming for me.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Thank you for staying.”

“You’re welcome,” Alec repeats, kissing Magnus’ forehead.

There’s so much _tenderness_ in him.

“Is this how you’re connected to Jace?”

“We don’t- open it, much, anymore. We don’t need to, we…” Alec’s voice trails off, and Magnus hears the smile in his voice. “It’s not like this, though.”

“It’s not?”

“You’re different people, he’s my brother, it’s… I can _feel_ you.”

Alec says it like it’s a revelation even to him, and the words ripple with wonder and gratitude in Magnus’ chest, but of course this is new to him. He never thought he would experience anything like this with anyone but Jace- and for the first time, Magnus understands exactly how intimate this is. He can feel what Alec says. He can feel how much he _means_ it.

Kissing Alec’s cheek, lingering and sweet, as he sits back up enough to see his face, Magnus sees curiosity in Alec’s eyes.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Alexander…”

Alec sighs. “It’s just… even your magic’s different.”

“My magic?”

Alec snaps his fingers, the blue effervescent glow it creates in his hand nothing more than shapeless light, and they watch it float between his curling fingers. “I don’t know how to… it’s _more_ , I guess?”

When Magnus borrowed Lorenzo’s magic, as desperate as he was for any power, every cell in his body knew it wasn’t enough. Too lethargic, muted, like it was constantly running out- so he knows exactly what Alec can’t articulate.

“It is,” Magnus says, drawing the magic into his own palm like he made it. He’s never seen magic behave like that; with loyalty to two separate people.

Alec follows the elegant lines of Magnus fingers playing with his magic, mesmerised. “And it feels like you.”

Magnus raises an eyebrow, and Alec shrugs.

Threading his fingers through Magnus’, the magic dissipating after a few moments, he kisses Magnus’ ring. “Magic has a certain… presence. It used to all feel the same to me, but yours- I don’t know, maybe it’s because I’m around it so much. It’s different.”

“Good different…?” Magnus asks, teasing, and Alec rolls his eyes, kissing him instead of answering.

There’s nothing to prove, no reason to make it as gentle as Alec does, and Magnus holds onto his shirt and takes what Alec offers him, smiling against his lips. The last time they did this, the world was burning and Alec agreed to marry him.

When Alec breaks the kiss, both of them are breathless and neither of them move.

Eventually, Alec leans back, but it’s just to take his jacket off and help Magnus out of his, dropping them on the couch beside them. It’s a practical move- Edom is dry, but the air’s full of heat- and Magnus embraces Alec again, head resting on his chest, just to breathe him in. Alec wraps his own arms around him in return, heartbeat steady in Magnus’ ear.

“Do you know how often you’re going to need to reapply the runes?”

“I’m not,” Alec says. “Clary said she didn’t want any of us to worry about reapplication while we were down here, so, she said it’ll only start to the process of aging and fading once it’s deactivated.”

“So be careful where you wave your stele until we get back,” Magnus mutters, wary, and Alec’s chest shudders with a laugh.

“I’m not worried.”

“Why not?”

“It doesn’t work. I couldn’t track you through my runes,” Alec says, completely relaxed as Magnus pulls back to look at his expression. “There’s too much demon blood in my system, it doesn’t recognise me as a shadowhunter anymore.”

“Then how did you find me?”

“Magic,” Alec says lightly, and Magnus smiles but he’s distracted.

The differences between Lorenzo and himself are few, but they might be enough. Patting down Alec’s pockets and pulling out the stele, he examines it. Alec raises an eyebrow but says nothing, and experimentally, he takes Alec’s arm and traces the stele over his strength rune- and it glows bright.

“Like you said,” Magnus says slowly, adjusting to the strange rush of physical power he’s not sure of the limitations of, Alec looking as surprised as he feels, “my magic and Lorenzo’s magic is fundamentally different. Asmodeus was a fallen angel, not of Edom, so my blood is, in some ways, angelic.”

Speechless with awe, Alec stares. “Wow.”

Twirling the stele between his fingers, Magnus smiles and says nothing. He doesn’t want to take Alec’s childlike joy away from him, but neither of them know what the long term effect of this could be. He isn’t especially worried if they’re talking about a matter of days or weeks, but years like this could have long-reaching consequences Magnus doesn’t want to face.

“I know we can’t use these once we get back,” Alec says, too introspective to be reacting to something he sees in Magnus, “but if we could…”

“The Clave can’t know,” Magnus says, and Alec exhales, nodding.

“They can’t have this kind of knowledge.”

“That’s… not what I meant,” Magnus says delicately, and Alec looks up at him through his eyelashes, listening. “My love, it’s bad enough that you abandoned your people to come to hell and get your warlock boyfriend. If they know you dirtied your blood with mine, you’ll lose the _Institute_.”

Alec recoils, staring at Magnus. “Your blood isn’t dirty.”

“That isn’t what they think,” Magnus says softly, but Alec’s already shaking his head, touching a finger to Magnus’ lips to shush him.

“Listen to me, Magnus; I don’t _care_. If they strip me of me title and have me deruned and the angels take it upon themselves to denounce me for loving you, I’m _still_ going to marry you. I don’t believe in anything the way I believe in you.”

Magnus takes a deep, shuddering breath, trying to control his emotions and focus, pulling Alec’s hand down. “I know you think you won’t care, but I have lost everything and it’s unbearable-”

“I _know_ I don’t care,” Alec says sharply. “I’m not saying I wouldn’t be devastated, because I would be, but I’m telling you I know I could survive it. My mom did.”

Magnus opens his mouth to argue, but Alec shakes his head slightly, eyes hard. He can only ask Alec to love him less, to love him differently, and he can’t do that. This is who Alec is whether or not it hurts.

Instead of bowing to it, he meets it, hauling Alec closer to kiss him. It’s vehement and achingly sincere, Alec pressing him back into the cushions and bracing himself against the back board so he can lean over Magnus, and Magnus tangles his fingers in Alec’s hair. He just _wants_ , wants to show him he’s grateful even if he’s terrified, wants to love Alec as much as he deserves, wants to feel as worthy of it as Alec sees him as being.

Breaking the kiss even as Magnus clings to him, Alec speaks against his lips. “Marry me.”

“I already to that,” Magnus says, kissing him again, but Alec pulls back and cups his cheek, determined.

“Now. Marry me right now.”

Magnus licks his lips, chest still heaving. Alec’s hair is a messy wreck, velvet lips pink with the bite of Magnus’ teeth, and he’s trying to read Magnus’ reaction because he means it.

“We’ll have a ceremony when we get back,” he adds, “and we’ll plan properly, we’ll have everyone there and do it right but I don’t want to _wait_.”

Magnus nods, kissing him again, breathless and gentle. “I don’t have any vows prepared.”

“Neither do I,” Alec says, shrugging.

“Ok,” Magnus says, and they both already know what they’re promising each other, anyway; they’re promising this.

In a rush, Alec sits back and pulling Magnus up with him, taking his hands.

“I don’t think I’d be able to articulate myself even if I had time,” he says, eyes shining. “You’re the love of my life and I want to spend the rest of mine with you, Magnus Bane. Even if that means half a century down here.”

“I promise it won’t be,” Magnus whispers because he’d destroy the whole of hell if it meant going home with him, and strokes his thumbs up Alec’s hands. “I have never been loved the way you love me, Alexander, and I want to be your husband, if you’ll have me.”

“I will,” Alec says. “If you’ll have me.”

“I will,” Magnus says.

There’s no one to officiate, no witnesses, and it’s not legally binding, but Magnus’ eyes close and tears fall down his cheeks as Alec kisses him because it feels real, something exchanged that can’t be given back by anyone else.

“I love you,” Alec whispers, and Magnus smiles, burying his face in Alec’s neck and relaxing into his arms.

“I love you too.”

For the longest time, they just hold each other. Magnus only lets him move when he shifts, the position getting uncomfortable, and Alec slides to sitting next to Magnus instead, legs in Magnus’ lap, arms around his neck and head on his shoulder.

Magnus draws the love rune on Alec’s thigh, over and over, wondering if Alec would object to him using his stele to put it there.

“You’re a prince, technically, right?” Alec asks, and Magnus kisses his hair.

“I banished my father. _Technically_ , I’m a king now.”

Alec pauses. “What’s my title, then?”

“As my husband?” Magnus pauses. “King too, I’d imagine.”

There’s a pause, Alec not answering immediately, but it’s not as if there’s any official historian in Edom to argue otherwise. The lineage is direct, and no one else is sitting on the throne any more, not even Lilith.

“Today did not go the way I expected,” Alec says, eyes fluttering closed, and Magnus smiles.

“It didn’t for me, either, I assure you.”

“Good.”

Magnus knows neither of them are safe- they’re in Edom, no matter how powerful they are together- but here, now, he feels it, because he has Alec. There’s no one he would want.

**Author's Note:**

> uhh I meant to write an alliance rune powercouple!fic and instead they… got married. in hell. this was entirely alec’s fault/idea
> 
> but good to know magnus isn’t the only one to spring a wedding on the other in this relationship though


End file.
